Helping the helpers

A pioneering new program is providing free tutoring to help young carers stay on top of their school work.

Transcript

KERRY O’BRIEN, PRESENTER: They're the silent achievers - children as young as six who are the sole carer in a household where a parent maybe ill.

With such demands at home, many young carers struggle with their studies and now a pioneering program is providing free tutors to help young carers stay on top of their schoolwork.

As Thea Dikeos reports.

TRISH BODDINGTON: What's this plan for dinner today, Jayden?

THEA DIKEOS, REPORTER: It's pizza night at the Boddington household and as usual 13 year old Jayden is in the kitchen making dinner

JAYDEN BODDINGTON: I help with the washing and sometimes I cook my own food. If mum needs help putting something on then I help and... Yeah, anything that really needs to be done.

THEA DIKEOS: Jayden Boddington was just nine when he began caring for his mother Trish after she was diagnosed with cancer.

TRISH BODDINGTON: He's a very strong boy and I know that obviously this has affected him in some ways - of the fear that something could else go wrong or what could be happening you know, while he's at school. Those kinds of things can affect him and he gets worried about what could happen.

THEA DIKEOS: She still undergoes chemotherapy at night and it sometimes makes her ill.

JAYDEN BODDINGTON: Just the other day mum was asleep and she didn't know it but she was throwing up into her mouth. And she was still sleeping but it was going back down into her throat and choking her. But I couldn't hear because I was fast asleep.

And that's what I think is bad. What happens if I'm asleep and it might happen again and this time mum isn't lucky and she doesn't get all the vomit out?

(Home video of toddler putting clothes in a washing machine)

TRISH BODDINGTON: Jayden's cooking, the boys are there. Hello boys!

BOYS: Hello!

THEA DIKEOS: Single mother Trish Boddington and her family have had more than their fair share of misfortune.

TRISH BODDINGTON: I had another child, Jacob, and he had leukaemia. So he was sick for four years and I found out I had cancer.

After my son passed away I gave the children a year to settle and things like that and then I told my children that you know I had cancer as well.

THEA DIKEOS: When Trish Boddington underwent a double mastectomy the radiation treatment left her with severe burns.

To help his mother through the pain, Jayden Boddington began buying and planting aloe vera in the garden, using it to soothe his mother's burns.

JAYDEN BODDINGTON: I got a spoon to take all the gel out, put it in the fridge to cool it down so it's nice and freezing cold and then put it on mum's cuts and burns and all the nasty stuff.

TRISH BODDINGTON: It was about making me feel good and he also felt he was doing something. He had done something that could help me and it- I don't think that's something I'm going to forget.

(to Jayden) EFTPOS, shopping list... yep.

ROSEMARY CHAPMAN, PROGRAM MANAGER, ANGLICARE: they're very much a hidden part of the family needs in the community absolutely. There's many people in the community who would have young carers in the street where they live.

THEA DIKEOS: Now a program designed to help the education needs of young carers like Jayden Boddington is being pioneered in western Sydney.

ROSEMARY CHAPMAN: The biggest issue with young carers is just how much their home role - the caring role - impacts on their education. It's huge.

THEA DIKEOS: Last semester Anglicare Sydney in partnership with the University of Western Sydney began a free tutoring program for 40 young carers.

NATHALIE SEVERINO, EDUCATION STUDENT, UWS: I was nervous. I didn't know what to expect. I've never tutored anyone before.

THEA DIKEOS: Nathalie Severino is studying to be a teacher. She's one of 12 students who took part in the program.

In just three months of tutoring Jayden Boddington once a week she noticed significant changes.

NATHALIE SEVERINO: I saw a lot of confidence come out of Jayden. In the beginning, the first few sessions, he was very quiet and unsure. And I think just giving him reassurance and guidance within his work, you just saw him come out of himself and talk and make suggestions and it was lovely to see. He wasn't shy.

JAYDEN BODDINGTON: She was a good person to talk to. She was nice - nice person. It was good because she wasn't too old, maybe a few years older, so that was good.

NATHALIE SEVERINO: When I'm a teacher I think I will be more inclined to be aware of signs from children who could potentially be young carers and from that bring a sensitivity towards that - and also a flexibility in terms of work load.

Anglicare Sydney in the Penrith region helps 40 young carers. A few years ago there were just 5.

ROSEMARY CHAPMAN: Our funding is quite minimal and it's been able to do really a lot with a small amount of money. Our aim then because we're looking at already meeting the academic needs of the students, we can look at then developing social opportunities for them.

THEA DIKEOS: Jayden Boddington is like many other young carers - education is one challenge facing them in an uncertain future.

JAYDEN BODDINGTON: There's nothing we can do. It's not like anything can fix it. It's for life so you have to deal with it or it's just going to get nowhere. So I know that mum is sick and I know she always will be sick but I know that she can handle it and that she'll always be the same person.